There is nothing quite like eating fresh grapes straight off the vine. I have a few grape vines scattered around the garden including a few on the varandah outside the kithchen that have produced a some really nice fruit, but they are all one variety.

A few months ago I wipped up a wire trellis along the fence near the water tank and planted two new vines with some dark table grapes. There is a Ribier that is a mid season grape and an Autumn Black that is a late grape. Hopefully, this will give me wider variety grapes over a wider timeframe.

You can see the Autumn Black on the left and the Ribier on the right. In the middle is a transplanted pepino which is doing very well in it’s new home. The pepino has large egg shaped fruit with a yellow skin with purple streaks. the orange flesh is a bit like a rock melon.

When I lightly pruned the grapes last month to train them on the wire I took the opportunity to take some cuttings and as you see in the centre of the photo, they have struck nicely. I will plant these out into the garden in early spring a little further along the trellis to make sure we have plenty of mouth watering grapes next summer.

We have two raised garden boxes, with some seats attached, near the back of the house. They are very convenient and we normally grow herbs (and currently strawberries) in one box and various greens in the other. However, I cleaned the second box out a while ago and refilled it with some partially composted tree clippings and mulch. The box has been lying dormant for a little while now and I thought it was about time to replant it, but with what? Indecison gripped me like a vice and nothing happened!

Late today, just as it was starting to get a bit dark, I had a rush of blood to the head and went though my store of seeds. I had several packets of different types of lettuce, some mixed basil, rocket, bok choi that were close-to or well-past their best-by dates. Perfect, I thought, let’s put some of those in and re-establish a picking bed of greens close to the house.

It was starting to get darker as I grabbed a few things to finsh the job. I quickly dropped the seed packets in the bed and arranged them until I was happy with the layout.

But, how many should I plant? Well, since the seeds were getting a bit old I decided to go for broke and toss in the lot! I can thin them out if they germinate better than expected.

Once the decision was made, I just broadcast the seeds in the respective areas without bothering too much to keep them separated. After all, the idea is to grab handfuls of different things to put in the salad (with the exception of the Bok Choi).

The other thing I had to do was protect the bed from the birds. They love turning over the mulch searching for tasty critters and seedlings. They can easily destroy a newly planted bed in well under an hour. I found some leftover mouse mesh from a previous project in the shed which looked perfect. It only has to provide protection for a few weeks until the plants establish and then it can be rolled back up to be used again for something else. “Waste not, want not”, as my grandma used to say.

I don’t know why it took me so long to do such a simple but important job in the garden, but at least it’s done and we’ll be eating some more yummy homegrown salad in a few weeks.

Very disappointed to have virtually no olives this year and the few that are on the trees are being taken by the birds.

We have three trees of different varieties but we have only had one good crop from one of the trees last year. I preserved a lot of those and they were really nice.

This year the crop has been almost non-existent but I’m expecting a good crop on at least two of the trees next year. Many varieties seem to crop well every two years, although the two neighbours’ trees have produced very well for the last few years. Some varieties also take a few years to mature and the youngest tree is just coming into production. Hopefully next year we’ll get another bumper crop.

If you go along Maribynong road in Ascot Vale (not far from the Melbourne show grounds) you will notice that all the street trees are olive trees and they produce copious quantites of fruit, which the locals harvest.

I must admit, I love ginger, the smell, the taste and the look, from the tropical like fronds to the deformed looking roots (or hands). In stir fries, in jams, candied, even in chocolate! and of course in Ginger  Beer, it is a fantastic plant.

I had tried to grow it a couple of times with mixed results. So about two years ago, after a friend and I built a large greenhouse, I took the opportunity to take a sprouting piece in the cupboard to try again. I planted the hand in a pot and placed it in greenhouse and away it went. The following season it had grown enough to be repotted into two pots and to have enough to use some in the kitchen. Every so often we would just reach into a pot and retrieve a piece. However, a few weeks ago I noticed that one of the pots seemed to be leaking water everytime I tried to fill it. A closer examination revealed that the roots had grown so much they had split the pot!! Time for repotting methinks.

Here’s a quick photo record of repotting the Ginger. It was repotted into two new pots.

And safely back in its home in the greehouse next to the Avacado. Over winter I think I will consolidate all the ginger into a larger tub to give it more room to expand and so it is a bit easier to manage.